A recent case report revealed that an 80-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease showed improvements in her cognitive abilities after receiving several doses of psilocybin-containing mushrooms.
The report, published in the journal Frontiers in late May, focused on a Japanese American woman who has been living with advanced Alzheimer's for the past 10 years. After a few weeks of psilocybin mushroom administration, the woman, who usually spoke only a few words and struggled with bladder control, showed noticeable improvements. Also, researchers observed positive changes in her memory, movement, emotional responses, social interaction, and other brain-related functions.
The experimental treatment was carried out under medical supervision in Brazil, with written consent from the patient's legal guardian. For the first session, the woman received a high dose of 5 grams of psilocybin mushrooms. After taking the dose, she entered a deep sleep-like state that lasted for many hours. About 19 hours later, she unexpectedly began talking to herself and continued doing so for several hours. In the days that followed, the woman reportedly regained some bladder control, was able to dress and walk on her own, and interacted more with others by maintaining eye contact, smiling, and taking part in conversations.
"The persistence of urinary continence after more than 5 years of chronic incontinence is particularly notable," the study noted, "given that continence depends on integrated interoceptive awareness, executive inhibition, and fronto-insular network function."
Encouraged by these results, researchers gave her a second supervised dose of 3 grams of psilocybin mushrooms about a month later. However, unlike the first session, she remained awake and talkative throughout the second experience. She described emotional memories and scenes, including surfing with her son on a peaceful island. During the session, she also spontaneously said, "It is pleasant to come here."
However, researchers noted several limitations. They did not monitor her brain activity or sleep state during the treatment and did not use standard cognitive tests to measure changes in her condition. The report also emphasized that the findings do not mean Alzheimer's was reversed. Instead, they suggested that some brain functions may remain active even in late-stage Alzheimer's and could potentially be accessed under certain conditions.
"The present report should be understood primarily as a detailed observational description intended to generate hypotheses for future controlled investigation," the authors wrote. "Systematic investigation is warranted."
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